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I walked across and picked it up. It was silky soft to touch and, even covered in dust, looked expensive. I’d never heard of the brand—MJ Bale—but I suspected the jacket wasn’t off-the-rack but rather tailor made.
Saska stepped through the hole I’d punched through the wall. “You’re still here. I’m surprised.”
“I did promise not to chase after him. Besides, me getting lost down there wouldn’t help my brother any.”
“No, but that’s never stopped anyone doing dumb things before.”
It certainly hadn’t stopped me in the past, either, but I kept that to myself and went through the jacket’s pockets.
She cast a quick gaze around the room. “What happened to the wolf?”
“He died. Again.”
Her eyebrows rose. “Again?”
I nodded. “The wraith raised him from the dead. I merely put him back into that state.”
“A zombie werewolf?”
“And not a freshly dead one, either. You can tell that by the extent of the decay.”
Saska grunted and squatted beside Harry. “Poor bloke didn’t stand a chance, did he?”
“No.”
“Why do you think this bloke was targeted rather than your brother? Why kidnap rather than kill him?”
“Because for the wraith, it isn’t just about the kill. It’s about revenge, and about making me suffer as he did in the intervening years since his last appearance.”
Saska’s gaze narrowed. “Then it’s not about finishing what he started, which is the council’s—and your father’s—theory.”
“Oh, it definitely is, but you have to remember one thing—a seriously underpowered teenager defeated him. That would sting the pride of any witch, dead or alive.”
Saska snorted. “Thankfully we don’t have to deal with many dead ones up here.”
“They’re never fun, trust me on that.”
She studied me for a second, obviously unsure whether I was kidding or not, but her phone rang before she could say anything.
While she talked, I continued to search the jacket’s pockets. There was nothing in either of the external pockets, but the inside one held a plain gold wedding ring. Which was odd. I mean, why would he remove... the thought died as my psychometry sprang to life, hitting so hard that for a moment, all I could see were shadowy, man-like shapes, all I could hear was the rush of water, and all I could feel was the needlelike grip on my shoulder pushing me on and the warmth trickling down the back of my head.
I sucked in a breath and shut the connection. He was alive and conscious and right now, that was all that mattered.
Though I couldn’t help but wonder why he wasn’t using his magic to escape them. I hadn’t felt any sort of restraint in that brief connection, but maybe the answer lay in the head injury. Maybe he was concussed and confused as hell. I might be able to spell under duress, but it was a skill I’d learned the hard way and not one Julius would ever likely have needed until now.
I grabbed several tissues from my purse and wrapped his ring in them. It wasn’t as good as silk, but it did mute the force of the connection enough that I could keep control and not be dragged back down again. The softly glowing connection thread spun from the covered ring and dove into the hole. But like Juli’s scent, it was fading fast.
The minute Saska finished her call, I said, “I’ve found a means to track my brother, but we need to go now.”
“Not until the crew arrives with the proper equipment,” she said, in a voice that suggested she’d brook no arguments on this.
“Going into that bloody hole is the last thing I want to do,” I said. “Though a team down there would at least prevent his captors from doubling back.”
Which I didn’t think they’d do, but to date the wraith’s actions hadn’t followed any sort of logic, so who actually knew.
“You can still track someone even when they’re underground and you’re above?”
“Up to a point, yes. Consider it a radar that fades as the subject moves farther away.”
